EL PASO (TX)
El Paso Times
May 21, 2011
By Diana Washington Valdez / El Paso Times
The Catholic Diocese of El Paso, the Catholic Diocese of Las Cruces and St. Genevieve Parish of Las Cruces settled a lawsuit filed by a man who allegedly was sexually abused by a priest, lawyers for the man announced Friday.
Terms of the settlement were not released.
The priest, identified in the lawsuit as the Rev. Manuel Perez Maramba, served in the Diocese of El Paso in the 1970s. The suit, filed in the 3rd Judicial District Court of New Mexico, claimed that Perez Maramba sexually assaulted the plaintiff, called “John Doe” in the lawsuit, when he was a minor.
The settlement is the fourth reached with the Diocese of El Paso, the Diocese of Las Cruces and St. Genevieve Parish stemming from allegations of sexual abuse by Perez Maramba.
Perez Maramba, a Benedictine monk from the Philippines, worked at St. Genevieve in Las Cruces from 1976 to 1977 with the permission of then El Paso Bishop Sydney Metzger.
He also worked at the Newman Center in Silver City while working in the Diocese of El Paso. Perez Maramba was an accomplished musician in the Philippines, and his musical career led him to the United States, where he performed at Carnegie Hall at age 19.
He was recalled to the Philippines in 1977 by his abbey.
The lawsuit complaint also alleged that John Doe was inappropriately touched by the Rev. Rosario Lopez, also a Benedictine monk from the Philippines. Lopez served at St. Genevieve Parish before Perez Maramba’s arrival in 1976.
El Paso lawyers T.O.
Gilstrap Jr. and S. Clark Harmonson represented John Doe in the litigation.
Diana Washington Valdez may be reached at dvaldez@elpasotimes.com; 546-6140.